The Cycle
by Ghille Dhu the Blue
Summary: Once a cycle begins it is hard to end without one simple action but few are ever brave enough to make that simple action until it is to late.


* * *

Propaganda states that dying for the village is glorious. The reality is often the opposite. A shinobi must kill emotions that make them human, a shinobi must not back down in the face of death. Ninja are just tools after all, pawns in a giant chess game. If a ninja fails then they must be punished.

A Jinchuuriki is often punished with death.

* * *

Staggering towards the Village gates the kunoichi looked up at relief at the familiar site. She was safe, she was home. Her hair was cut into a sleek bob, her vibrant crimson hair tangled but her blue eyes slightly more relaxed then before when she had been moving in enemy country. Her pale skin was covered in a layer of dirt, she had no wounds. A sigh of relief escaped the kunoichi when a jounin she recognised came to her. "Satoru-san!" She croaked but was pleased, she liked him, he was nice to her after she saved his life on a mission. She frowned at his expression, was there regret in his clear grey eyes? Not that the red haired chuunin had been in the village for over a month, had someone died while she was spying?

Satoru trembled, he didn't want to do what he was ordered. Had this woman not saved his life nearly at the cost of her own. He tensed. "For your neglience of duty, you are sentenced to death," Satoru monotoned, he tried to convey his regret to her in his eyes.

From all directions shinobi shot out, grabbing her arms, legs, head and any of her remaining weapons. Brutally her head snapped backwards as someone punched her. Extreme pressure was exerted over her limbs and immediately she felt a needle inserted in her upper-arm and the kunoichi knew that she was being punished not for the mission but for being a failure as a weapon.

* * *

[ Nineteen Years Before]

Eight men stood, a tea-pot beside them. A bawling newborn girl was left naked on seals and on her stomach a seal was visible. the tea-pot was cracked now, it had been useful for the years the demon had resided inside it but now they had a new vessel, a weapon. The body of a ninth person, a young woman was sprawled nearby. Her red hair a bloody halo." She will bring glory and strength to us," A blonde haired man said as he walked over the child, a blanket in his arms and he slowly knelt and gathered the child into his arms. She quietened slightly, her eyes firmly shut.

The crowds gathered and waited for news of the weapon of their village. The shinobi anyway, only a few non-shinobi bothered to come and meet their future addition to the ranks of the small village ninja force. They knew the child was of the Shiruberiede blood, the last of the Shiruberiede blood and that made her the perfect container. The Sanbi was the demon who gifted the bloodline to the Shiruberiede in return for its freedom from it's Jinchuuriki, the newborns ancestor. Cheers erupted as the eight Elders stepped out with a bundle in one of their arms.

"Shiruberiede Akane," The tallest announced. Gesturing towards the sleeping baby.

* * *

She had no illusions to her place. She was a weapon and not human, her bloodline limit was only a bonus to her but she was a failure in their eyes. She cried when she killed even an animal, she refused to assassinate and she could not even control the demon within her. Very few saw her as a living, breathing human and ironically it was on her last mission that she had met someone who had cared enough to let her overpower him and flee. She didn't fight to live, she didn't live to fight. She was thrown onto the sealing room floor, her clothes ripped to reveal her seal and she could feel the rapid strokes of a brush on her bare skin. The demon was being extracted and she was going to die. Everything was emptiness and only she was solid. A swirl of colourless gas around her, blocking her from seeing what ever she could see. The pain was coming, intense and agonizing but she still refused to scream in pain. She would never grant them that satisfaction.

The second day came and she only yelped and was trembling in pain but by the third her tolerance was gone and she screamed. The pain was eating her inside and she wanted release. She tried to summon the chakra of her tenant, she had none flowing freely in her pathways and Shiruberiede Akane, Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi left out a high pitched scream. "I don't want to die!" She tried to vocalise her inner screams but she couldn't. Her thoughts fled to the happy times with the black haired chuunin that she had lost her first kiss to, the enemy chuunin who helped her escape from Konohagakure. His name was beyond her thoughts now but the image of his smile was with her.

"Come now Akane-chan," A gentle but loving voice commanded, the speaker a tall red haired woman, not much older then Akane spoke. " It is your time to come."

Akane knew who she was seeing. "Mother....." The kunoichi trailed off and a gentle smile came to her face and slowly Akane stood up and put her hand out. "I'm coming," She whispered and she took her last breath and stepped forwards into the light.

* * *

_The cycle that never ends._

The baby bawled furiously as it was taken from his mothers womb, his mother screaming but the eight elders didn't look back as they proceeded to do the same ritual of almost two decades ago. The first attempt had proved useless, the container weak with the sanbi's power but they were sure not to make the same mistakes again and the three tailed demon had now left it's container and was forced into another one.

A final scream filled the air as the brown haired mother arched her back and took her last breath as her soul was offered up to shinigami in exchange for the demon being sealed. Her corpse fell with a bang against the hard floor covered in her own blood.

* * *

Satoru knew that he would always live in regret and a year later it wasn't getting any better. He watched for anyone and let out a sigh as he saw his escape was clear and he gently returned the one year old jinchuuriki to his arms, the red haired boys face leaning against his shoulder. The murder of Shiruberiede Akane had proved the last straw for him about the practises of his village and after twenty years of service he was becoming a missing ninja. He knew it would be worth it. His regret also extended to the flowers that he could never leave on her grave again, he had buried her himself, beside the river that she had adored so much. He pushed himself to his speed limit, holding the toddler tightly to his chest._I will not let you follow her fate Hiroshi. I was not brave enough to stand up for Akane but you will be the one to break the cycle. _Saturo thought with a small smile.

* * *

_Until someone is brave enough to end it with one simple action._

* * *


End file.
